Mesangere Gallery

A meeting at a masquerade ball

A meeting at a ball: A masked woman and Normandy girl flirt with a revolutionary man in bicorn and cockade, while a woman in drag as a Turkish man interrupts and a double bass player looks on. I know you, but you'd don't know me, in other words I have many ways to put you on the spot, to play with you, and have fun at your expense, while you cannot take revenge, or see my faults or weaknesses. Handcoloured engraving from Pierre de la Mesangere's Le Bon Genre, Paris, 1817. A meeting at a ball: A masked woman and Normandy girl flirt with a revolutionary man in bicorn and cockade, while a woman in drag as a Turkish man interrupts and a double bass player looks on. I know you, but you'd don't know me, in other words I have many ways to put you on the spot, to play with you, and have fun at your expense, while you cannot take revenge, or see my faults or weaknesses. Handcoloured engraving from Pierre de la Mesangere's Le Bon Genre, Paris, 1817. Date:

© Florilegius/Mary Evans

Coryphees at a ball

Coryphees at a ball. Incroyables in jackets with outsize buttons and collars, long cravat, huge bicorn hat, and merveilleuses with decollete dresses and large lace collars. (Coryphees are ballet dancers of a rank between corps du ballet and soloist.) What to say about these breeches with a thousand folds and large jackets that fall with as little grace as from a coat rack? Handcoloured engraving from Pierre de la Mesangere's Le Bon Genre, Paris, 1817. Coryphees at a ball. Incroyables in jackets with outsize buttons and collars, long cravat, huge bicorn hat, and merveilleuses with decollete dresses and large lace collars. (Coryphees are ballet dancers of a rank between corps du ballet and soloist.) What to say about these breeches with a thousand folds and large jackets that fall with as little grace as from a coat rack? Handcoloured engraving from Pierre de la Mesangere's Le Bon Genre, Paris, 1817. Date:

© Florilegius/Mary Evans

Evening party at Coblentz

Evening party at Coblentz (between rue Taitbout and rue Neuve-Lepelletier, Paris). A group of women and children (including a black woman) sit listening to music from a hurdygurdy man and woman with tambourine. In 1791-1792, the previously unfashionable Boulevard des Italians became the favorite promenade for the royalist partisans. To be seen there was a public profession of aristocracy, an enlistment in the army of the princes, an espousal of the interests and opinions of the French refugees in Koblentz. After 1795, it became the fashionable place for incroyables, merveilleuses, and muscadins. At night from 6 til midnight, up to 4, 000 people jostled, elbowed and bumped along this street. Handcoloured engraving from Pierre de la Mesangere's Le Bon Genre, Paris, 1817. Evening party at Coblentz (between rue Taitbout and rue Neuve-Lepelletier, Paris). A group of women and children (including a black woman) sit listening to music from a hurdygurdy man and woman with tambourine. In 1791-1792, the previously unfashionable Boulevard des Italians became the favorite promenade for the royalist partisans. To be seen there was a public profession of aristocracy, an enlistment in the army of the princes, an espousal of the interests and opinions of the French refugees in Koblentz. After 1795, it became the fashionable place for incroyables, merveilleuses, and muscadins. At night from 6 til midnight, up to 4, 000 people jostled, elbowed and bumped along this street. Handcoloured engraving from Pierre de la Mesangere's Le Bon Genre, Paris, 1817. Date:

© Florilegius/Mary Evans